Faceplate woes

[oldbilbo]

No, not Facebook....

Been struggling to remove the Jabsco waterpump faceplate ( "haven't we all...." ) to check out the condition of the rubber impeller. It's surely some blurry injineer's idea of a joke to fit this essential device down the side, with the faceplate facing the back of the flywheel housing and under 2" from it. Oh, and there's a fuel filter, a water strainer, a half-dozen hoses and a solid engine compartment bulkhead in the way.... of course.

So, eventually I managed to get a cranked tool in there with a slothead bit and have managed to remove, unseen, the 6 tiny brass slothead machine screws.... Despite my fumbling, I didn't drop one of them! But 2 or 3 of them are ever so slightly chewed, so I've been trying to replace them with some others just a little more 'user-friendly'. And Jabsco weren't on the shortlist of 'most user-friendly'.

Three local engineers and their thread gauges later, we'd/they'd determined that what's wanted is UNC No 8 flavour. And I sought some replacements which are easier to grip with extended fingers ( Sikaflex? CT1? ), and which take a modern toolbit which doesn't slip and chew.

How about 'knurled', taking an Allen-key? In stainless. And at less than one-third the cost of Jabsco's fiddly blurry slothead irritants....

Take a bow, Avon Stainless in Bristol. "Here's another fine mess you've gotten me out of."

 

[Tranona]

Invest in a Speedseal.

 

[Phill]

Have a look at this
http://www.speedseal.com/speedseal.html

Must learn to type faster!

 

[oldbilbo]

Yes, 'Speedseal'. A brill idea.... but the cover plate would, in my particular installation, still need to be removed completely, for it cannot rotate fully out of the way due to several other bits of engine getting in the way. And it would cost me over £50....

If my blurry awkward setup was as easy to access as shown in the Speedseal ad, I wouldn't have the problem.....

 

[Tranona]

Once you have taken the plunge and bought one you will wonder how you ever managed without it.

 

[Cloven]

Yes, 'Speedseal'. A brill idea.... but the cover plate would, in my particular installation, still need to be removed completely, for it cannot rotate fully out of the way due to several other bits of engine getting in the way. And it would cost me over £50....

If my blurry awkward setup was as easy to access as shown in the Speedseal ad, I wouldn't have such the problem.....

On my engine - Yanmar 2GM, the raw water pump is the "wrong way round" - ie at the front of the engine but the face plate faces aft. I have fitted a Speedseal but still the only way to get at it is to remove the pump completely and turn it round which involves disconnecting the raw water input pipe & unbolting the unit from the engine block. However, once done, it is very easy to access & change the impeller.

 

[oldbilbo]

On my engine - Yanmar 2GM, the raw water pump is the "wrong way round" - ie at the front of the engine but the face plate faces aft. I have fitted a Speedseal but still the only way to get at it is to remove the pump completely and turn it round which involves disconnecting the raw water input pipe & unbolting the unit from the engine block. However, once done, it is very easy to access & change the impeller.

I had a similar setup on a BMC 'Captain' lump fitted in a friend's Rival 34. That hull suffered numerous cooling-water failures, stuffing impeller AND Vetus mixer bottle simultaneously. I got lots of practice in anchoring under sail.... and in using a shaving mirror to see and undo the faceplate screws. The frustrated owner
eventually came up with a spare pump as it was, as you say, easier to 'hot swop' the whole pump assembly. It seems crazy to me that there isn't AFAIK a straighforward alternative device which can be retro-fitted.

 

[Stork_III]

Yes, 'Speedseal'. A brill idea.... but the cover plate would, in my particular installation, still need to be removed completely, for it cannot rotate fully out of the way due to several other bits of engine getting in the way. And it would cost me over £50....

If my blurry awkward setup was as easy to access as shown in the Speedseal ad, I wouldn't have the problem.....

Just buy the Speedseal thumbscrews or similar.

 

[ribrage]

When you put it back together smother the screw threads in waterproof grease, then the same with the face plate and screw heads, in a years time when it's due service again just wipe all the grease off, it will come apart easily , my pump is so tight against the bulk head even if I got the screws out the impeller would be too long to slide off the shaft, so it's pump off engine every time .

But smothered in grease it comes off easily

Good luck

 

[prv]

On my engine - Yanmar 2GM, the raw water pump is the "wrong way round" - ie at the front of the engine but the face plate faces aft. I have fitted a Speedseal but still the only way to get at it is to remove the pump completely and turn it round which involves disconnecting the raw water input pipe

Are you sure that's necessary? It isn't on mine, there's enough play in the hoses to turn the pump round while still connected.

If you have room in front of the engine, there is a third-party kit available that turns the pump round. I don't have the space, though.

Pete

 

[prv]

Yes, 'Speedseal'. A brill idea.... but the cover plate would, in my particular installation, still need to be removed completely, for it cannot rotate fully out of the way due to several other bits of engine getting in the way.

?

The speedseal doesn't rotate, it slides off. And removing it completely is the norm, except for two of the bolts which stay in to help guide the plate back into position.

Pete

 

[pvb]

Just buy the Speedseal thumbscrews or similar.

Yes, Speedseal sell the screws separately as spares.

 

[Blueboatman]

+1 for loosening the hose clamps, undoing a couple of bolts and rotating the pump body, greased of course ahem.

 

[Bilgediver]

Invest in a Speedseal.

If you go to Maplins with one of the screws I think you will find that soome of the knurled head screws as used on computer cases will do the job.

On my engine it is easier to remove the whole pump which means slacking of two jubilee clips and removing two flange bolts.